a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Bits from Randy Rigby Interview, 12/4

Are you seeing evolution in Tyrone Corbin?
Yes. I think we’re seeing an evolution from our coaching staff, and Ty, and you know, I’ll tell ya. They’ve had a really challenge in front of them with the different injuries that we’ve had, and needing to, you know, not having Trey [Burke] back, and needing to reach out, and we had Jamaal [Tinsley] for, again, a short period, and trying, and they’ve worked very hard with what they’ve had to deal with.

And I’ve been happy to see the results for them, and they’ve done a very, very good job of dealing with the challenges, working through a young team, and we’re now seeing the results of, I think, their hard work and effort in the results that we’ve recently had.

On Jazz vs. Pacers
It’s another good barometer for us to see where is this team at. We, can we handle success? We’ve had, now, two wins in a row. Can we now handle the success, of dealing with, now, coming off of it and coming in against a very good team? And can we come in mentally prepared, to take it up another notch, and play hard, and work together, run our offense, play tough defense, against a well-run team? And see how we come out on this battle.

What’s the feedback you’re getting from fans right now?
What is fun for me is to actually see our fan base recognize and being supportive, number one, of the plan we’ve had, to grow this young team, and to build within the draft like we’ve done. And yet, and see their analysis from their own perspective.

And yet at the same time, see their support that they’ve had, for supporting us. And people say, “You know what? You guys have been brilliant in what you’re doing. I support what’s going on.” And so, I think we have fans that are very much supportive of where things are going here.

And you have fans that would love to see us losing more, but you know what? We have in our DNA, we’re gonna do what it takes to, we’ve told our coaches and our players, “We expect you to win each and every night.” And they’re working hard and they’re doing the right things, and we’re gonna totally support ’em on, in that direction.

Does winning bring a mental, spiritual lift?
Yes. Yes. You know, it’s easy to lose in this league. And you can get down on yourself, and I think Tyrone and our coaching staff has done a remarkable job of really keeping our guys’ spirits up, recognizing the positive things that they’ve done.

And now when they’ve actually, they’ve been talking it. They’ve been teaching it. They’ve been working on it. And now as they’re actually, it’s one thing to talk about it, but when they finally start doing it and seeing the results of those actions and what it can then produce, it now reinforces to those guys, you talk about the juices, they talk about the results, and they’re seeing it.

And they’ve been able to see it, that, hey, by doing it and doing it on the road and being able to win, as we did against Phoenix, it reinforced to these players, hey, you know what, we have the ability to do it. Then do it at home against a very good team like we did against Houston, reinforces even more so.

And now our coaching staff has been able to say to these guys, “See? You do have it in you. You have the ability, and you can do it against these very good teams. You have the potential inside yourself. Now, let’s see if we can do it night in and night out.” And the continuity and the consistency of it. And that’s gonna be part of this growth from a young team.

Would uptempo basketball help the Jazz from both an entertainment and competitive standpoint?
Well, I will say this, and I hear our coaching staff regularly talk about it, and that is, is, “You know what? L–take what the game gives you.” And in some cases, I, we should be more uptempo, and I think we have the ability, and our coaches have been frustrated that our guys have been a little bit stodgy and not taking advantage of being more uptempo.

But I think there’s also times that you need to also look and say, “You know what? We, don’t over-rush it. Don’t try to push it.” Take, again, like I said, take what the other team is giving you, and be, and run your offensive sets more.

I regularly hear Ty say, “Other teams don’t like to have to keep defending you.” And so, when you play in uptempo and try to get too quick of shots, it sometimes can hurt you where you want to slow, I don’t want to say “slow down,” but keep running your offense, ’cause then eventually you’re gonna break down that other team defensively, ’cause they don’t wanna keep having to defend, ’cause that sometimes in that second or third passes when finally that open shot comes, that increases your percentages of being able to have a good shot and a good look at the basket.

On the Leastern Conference
Maybe we need to s–flip over to the East for a year, but you know what? That’s the beauty of sports to me, though. You take what you’ve got, and it’s gonna make us better. Playing in the West has always, and recently, it’s a tough conference back here.

And you know what? Playing against the best, playing this, that tough kind of competition, it’s what defines you and makes you be–a better individual and a better player and a better team.

So you know what? We’re here in the West, we love being in Utah, and we’ll take it, and it’s gonna make us better over long term.

**Gordon Monson, unintentional dirty quote machine: Randy, you’re privy to the inner sanctum, and so you spend time around the team in an intimate way that we don’t get a chance to look at. (1280)

Deep down, I know DL knows that Ty is terrible and he won’t be resigned, but seeing the non stop support from Randy worries me. I get it’s his job and he shouldn’t throw them under the bus, but he doesn’t need to go out of the way to praise Ty and the coaching staff either.